Several middle school parochial football teams notched upset victories during the first round of the playoffs recently and advanced to the 2012 SPAL postseason championship games that were to have been played last Thursday.

Here are results and highlights from the first-round playoff contests:

AAAA DIVISION

PINEWOOD CHRISTIAN 48, COUNTRY DAY 28

Eighth-graders Cameron Dutton, Kaleb Shuman and Jake Woolard scored two touchdowns apiece in leading the undefeated and top-seeded Patriots (8-0) to the win over the Hornets at the PCA field.

Hornets quarterback Jonathan Palmer finished with 225 yards passing and three scores, two of which went to receiver Ben Edwards for a total of 80 yards. The other scoring toss went to receiver Bryce Dunn for a 70-yarder in the loss. Harrison Hughes added the other touchdown on a fumble recovery.

SAVANNAH CHRISTIAN 34, CALVARY 28

Chris Dettling led a balanced Raiders scoring attack with three TDs and ended with more than 150 yards rushing in helping to power No. 2 SCPS (4-3) over Calvary at M.C. Anderson Field.

After a early Cavalier TD in which Salvador Calderon hit receiver Thomas Wells for a 63-yard strike, the Raiders then answered with a first-quarter score of their own, as Dettling took a toss sweep pass from backup QB Cooper Marini — who was playing in place of the injured Bryce Singleton — and rambled 40 yards for the six-pointer.

The Cavs took a 14-6 lead early in the second quarter as Darius Kelly finished a 50-yard drive by sneaking in from the 3. Calderon, who later in the game would add a TD on a 38-yard jaunt, ran in for the conversion.

With about two minutes left before halftime, the Raiders struck again and cut the lead to two, 14-12, as Dettling took another Marini toss sweep pass and rumbled 25 yards for his second touchdown.

Midway through the third quarter, the Raiders used excellent blocking and key runs as a factor in helping to reclaim the lead. Dettling’s third touchdown (a 35-yarder) on a pass out in the flat from Marini put SCPS up 20-14. However, that lead was short-lived, as the Cavs (3-4) stormed back with Calderon doing the honors by reaching the end zone for the go-ahead TD and conversion.

Early in the fourth stanza, the Raiders’ Joshua Kelley gave his team an added push as he hauled in a 30-yard Marini pass for a touchdown. With the score 26-22 SCPS on top, the never-say-die and fully determined Cavs squad fought back and took a 28-26 lead with just over four minutes left as Wells hauled in a Calderon 55-yard run pass.

However, with the momentum building and the pressure mounting, the Raiders came surging back, mounting a 65-yard drive toward the goal. With time running out on their season, the Raiders — who had defeated the Cavaliers twice before — didn’t give up. With 30 seconds left, Kelley took a handoff from Marini and ended the drive and the Cavs’ season by sprinting 10 yards for the game-winning touchdown.

Despite the tough loss, Cavalier eighth-grade stalwart Calderon finished with more than 200 yards passing and 150 yards rushing and completed his middle school football season this year with more than 2,000 yards on the ground and 20 touchdowns.

AAA DIVISION

BLESSED SACRAMENT 40, SAV. CHRISTIAN (7TH) 0

The top-seeded Irish scored six touchdowns in the shutout win over SCPS at Daffin Park.

Eighth-grader Philip Moore, who has been dominant on both sides of the ball this season, led the way as usual. Moore scored three of the six-pointers, two on runs of 35 and 42 yards and the other coming on a 45-yard punt return. The catalyst, who has a 26 TDs, finished with more than 200 yards of total offense. The Irish as a team finished with more than 400 yards of offense.

Michael DeMell, another standout on defense who also added a key interception, scored on a 25-yard fumble recovery.

Andrew Warren hauled in a DeMell pass from 10 yards out.

Travis Blackshear added a touchdown as he snagged a Raiders interception and returned it 45 yards.

Walker Barlow set up one of the scores and motored 45 yards on a nice run.

Nathaniel Lattimore early in the contest threw a key block which allowed Moore to race the 45 yards for a score.

A strong offensive and defensive game by the second-seeded Chargers is what enabled St. James to pull out the key win over SPA at McBride Field.

Eighth-grade standout Grayson South, younger brother of former St. James and current B.C. student athlete Kyle South, led the offensive scoring with 125 yards rushing and two touchdowns.

Chris Bovee, John Thorpe and Brendan Mahoney all added six-pointers. Bovee and Thorpe together ended with 75 yards rushing, and Mahoney, who had 50 yards rushing, added his TD by hauling in a Ben Winders pass for 60 yards. And speaking of Winders, the standout quarterback finished with nearly 200 yards passing as receivers Mahoney and Will Kropp were on the top end of several key tosses.

The Chargers late in the game shut out the Rams offense, which had scored early in the first half. Midway through the third period and throughout the rest of the contest, the St. James team took command of the clock and sealed the win by stopping a late Rams drive.

In a tough game, Namon Pointer, who scored the lone TD for the Cavaliers in their regular-season finale loss recently, along with Hayden Clark carried the load in leading the No. 3 seed Calvary team to a hard-fought and upset win over top-seeded Blessed Sacrament.

The only scoring of the game came early in the first half, as a nine-play, 61-yard drive to the goal was made complete as Clark, who ended with 38 yards rushing, picked up a Pointer fumble in the end zone and scored. Pointer, who led with 60 yards rushing, also was a key on defense.

Grant Thomas, Thaddeus Wheeler, Ryan Tabakian, Jay Wetherington and Davis Gaylord all played solid on offense. Jadon Snider, at right DE, was stout on defense as he recorded two sacks and three tackles for losses. Michael Stubbs, another key on defense, made several crucial third-down stops. Clark, Lance Longgrear, Landon Jennings, Wheeler and Jackson Singletary performed well on defense.

The Cavs, according to coach John Locke, made their final stand late in the fourth as they held the strong BSS team on four downs from the Calvary 18-yard line and ran out the clock.

SAVANNAH CHRISTIAN 8, SAVANNAH COUNTRY DAY 6

The No. 4 seeded Raiders managed to pull off the upset by defeating the No. 2 Hornets.

Michael Smith had a 2-yard TD for the Hornets early in the first half. The Raiders’ Joshua Kindred broke up a pass on the extra-point attempt to Chris Pendleton.

The score remained 6-0 until late in the fourth.

With less than three minutes remaining, the Raiders seized their moment to score. On the third play from scrimmage, QB Gentry Hawkins finished off a short drive by sneaking in from the 1-yard line. Bennett Stroop added the crucial two-point conversion off a Hawkins pass to give SCPS the 8-6 lead.

SCD had one last chance to retake the lead, but with less than a minute to go and with the ball at the SCPS 10-yard line, the Hornets fumbled and the Raiders recovered.